Homophobic Chief’s wife wants divorce and second marriage annulled

Chief Patekile Holomisa’s wife of almost two decades has filed for divorce and asked the court to declare his new marriage null and void. Holomisa is the face of tradition as the president of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA (Contralesa), and is an ANC MP.

Holomisa made headlines last year when he stated in a parliamentary committee that "the ANC knows that the ‘great majority' of South Africans do not want to promote or protect the rights of gays and lesbians." The ANC was quick to distance itself from the comments, but failed to discipline Holomisa for making them. 

It seems that once again the Chief’s traditional beliefs are at odds with the law of the land.

Holomisa and his wife, Bukelwa, were married in 1995 under the Marriage Act 25 of 1961. His wife is asking for a divorce as he has taken a second wife and according to the law, “no spouse of a marriage entered into under the Marriage Act, 1961, is, during the subsistence of such marriage, competent to enter into any other marriage”.

Though Bukelwa Holomisa concedes that polygamy is acceptable in African culture, she says because of her civil union Holomisa cannot marry again while still married to her.  “The second marriage can never be regarded as valid. This is because civil marriage and a customary marriage [can’t] co-exist contemporaneously between one spouse and his/her two different spouses,” she said in papers.

Bukelwa wants the court to grant a maintenance order “commensurate to the lifestyle I have enjoyed while married to him having forsaken my future to raise our family and care for the matrimonial home, allowing him to further his career to the extent he has”. 

It seems that the Chief needs to learn differentiate between the law and his patriarchal and homophobic traditional beliefs.

DA slams BCM's "Disinvestment" Budget

The Democratic Alliance has rejected the R5.265 billion Buffalo City budget tabled in Council today. The municipality is budgeting Capital Expenditure of R751 million (most of which is grant funded) and Operating Expenditure of R4.2 billion.
 

The municipality has, for the 5th consecutive year, approved double-digit increases in rates and tariffs – more than double the upper limit set by National Treasury, and well above the inflation rate. This is despite the fact that the municipality underspends on its budget every year and has billions in cash investments.

The municipality is not encouraging investment and development in the city – it’s actively chasing it away!

Over the past 5 years, the rates and tariff increases amount to 111%.

The DA has, during last year’s budget debate, highlighted a number of areas requiring urgent attention. These included:

1.     A greater emphasis on revenue collection;

2.    The implementation of public-private partnerships to enhance service delivery and ease the burden on the municipality;

3.    The re-establishment of Tourism Buffalo City and the Buffalo City Development Agency as bona fide municipal entities as provided for in the MFMA;

4.    The immediate commencement of appointment processes for s56 officials – especially the Chief Financial Officer;

5.    An urgent review of the Supply Chain Management Unit and SCM processes to enhance efficiency; and

6.    Greater investment in basic infrastructure – electricity, roads, water and sanitation – through leveraged financing.

Of these, the only significant progress has been the appointment of the Chief Financial Officer.

The DA believes that the municipality had failed to properly consider the submissions of the community in its public participation process, and that the rebate structure for indigents and pensioners was an “all or nothing” approach. If your household income is one rand over the threshold, BCM will not give you any rebate.

The DA has proposed a stepped approach to rebates and indigent grants.

The DA lays the blame for the municipality’s continued underspending and poor service delivery squarely at the door of the ANC.

This is indicative of a government that doesn’t care and a government that believes it has a divine right to rule.

ANC shows hypocrisy with Eastern Cape school closures

This week it was announced that the Eastern Cape government will close down 310 schools in the Eastern Cape.

For months, the ANC has been waging a calculated campaign to discredit the DA government in the Western Cape for closing 20 schools in the Western Cape.

The Western Cape government took a decision to close these schools based on an assessment of the best interests of the learners and the availability of suitable schooling elsewhere in the system.

What is more, since 2009 the DA government has built 49 brand new schools with a further 72 new school structures to be built in the next three years to ensure that every child in the Western Cape is afforded the quality of schooling they deserve.

Yet the ANC has engaged in a calculated smear campaign on this issue. So the question now is whether the ANC will be as vocal about the closure of more than ten times as many schools in the Eastern Cape - a province with a well-documented education crisis.

It is extremely unlikely that the closure of 310 schools has been taken with the best interests of the learners in mind. Given the shortage of teachers, equipment, textbooks and schools it is likely that these schools are simply defunct. Our Education Spokesperson in the Eastern Cape is currently assessing on what basis these 310 schools were closed and whether or not it was justifiable.

The Eastern Cape is not the only other province closing schools.  The South African Institute of Race Relations estimates that since 2000, 1 116 schools have been closed in the Free State, 648 in North West, 590 in the Eastern Cape, 215 in Mpumalanga, 173 in Limpopo and 111 in the Northern Cape.

The ANC's silence on these closures in these provinces is rank hypocrisy. We trust that the public will see this politicking for what it is.

TAX PAYERS PAID OVER R4 MILLION FOR EASTERN CAPE ANC-COUNCILLORS GATHERING

A recent gathering of ANC councillors in East London cost tax payers over R4 million.

State resources were used to fund the gathering of 1 050 ANC councillors held in East London on Monday, 29 April 2013. This is a scandalous misuse of taxpayers’ money. It’s an outrageous abuse of power and shows that the ANC has totally lost the plot when it comes to distinguishing between what is a party activity and a government activity.

At this event the MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Mlibo Qoboshiyane, told the gathering that the DA was a threat to the ANC in the Eastern Cape. If this whole gathering was paid for at the taxpayers’ expense, it illustrates exactly why an angry public is fed-up with the ANC.

The DA has challenged MEC Qoboshiyane to categorically deny that no expenses were incurred by municipalities or his department in hosting this event. State resources from cash-strapped municipalities cannot be gobbled up by the ANC when there is a crying need for service delivery in this province.

The DA will raise this issue in the June sitting of parliament by way of questions for oral reply. The MEC must explain to the Legislature how much this exercise cost municipalities and the department and why this cannot be categorised as illegal expenditure. We also have other avenues of redress that we will utilise.

The 180 DA-councillors in the Eastern Cape will fight to ensure that any expenses incurred for this event by their municipalities are repaid by the individuals concerned.

If the DA in the Western Cape had invited all of its councillors, with transport, accommodation and meal-costs included, to a party gathering, the ANC and Cosatu would have gone ballistic and broken through the sound barrier. There has been a deafening silence in our province on this scandal.

Although this was clearly an ANC event, the invitation was sent out on the Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs letterhead. No DA-councillors were invited to this event.

According to a Daily Dispatch report ‘ANC councillors spend big in East London’, hotels were booked from Saturday through to Tuesday. If one adds up the costs of accommodation, meals, transport, and subsistence allowances, this event could have cost the tax payer between R4 million and R5 million.

Councillor Terry Stander of Ndlambe Municipality and Chairperson of the Association of Democratic Alliance Councillors (ADAC) in the Eastern Cape, will ensure that DA-councillors across the province will take action against those people who misused taxpayers’ funds. Written questions will be tabled in every council so the full extent of this extravagant event can be accounted for.